A
DEFEAT OF ECHOES - Donovan's Brain (Career
Records)
"Come To My Party," intones Colter Langan on the severe and opening
cut of the same name on the latest opus for Montana psychedelic collective
Donovan's Brain 
and,
although wrist-slashing is optional, he sure ain't breaking out the fairy
bread and streamers.
This isn't exactly a happy album for most of the ride - three of the members
were apparently undergoing breakdowns or break-ups throughout its making -
but it's strangely uplifting in the long run. It might be one of the most
engaging listens you'll have in a long time.
Engaging and demanding. Donovan's Brain makes multi-faceted, complex music
for grown-ups that requires close listening. Even the instrumental pieces
that divide the disc into distinct "suites" avoid being throwaways.
This value-packed, 17-song disc includes a companion DVD - more on that later
- but don't bank on "Control" making it to MTV or "Saturday
Morning Hits" real soon. Donovan's Brain ignore marketing demographics
(and just about every other boundary of genre, for that matter).
Donovan's Brain sure gets around - from languid minor chord narratives to
crunching rockers in the space of a couple of tracks. In doing so, they call
to mind more (early) Pink Floyd and Stones influences than you can comfortably
point a stick at. From baroque to the Byrds, but amazingly coherent, and the
odd bout of trippiness never gets in the way of the tunes.
With the exception of drummer Ron Craighead, the core members of Donovan's
Brain (Ron Sanchez, Colter Langan and Jeff Arntsen) are multi-instrumentalists,
but this is the first album that they've recorded wholly as a band unit. Ron
Sanchez is the glue, rounding up (and, good natured guy that he is, probably
rounding on) his bandmates and playing guitar, keyboards and synth. Jeff Arntsen
(bass, lap steel and organ) and Ron Craighead (drums) form a pliable rhythm
section, and Colter Langan plays six strings or four. Being a collective,
that still leaves room for guest players and they all make substantial contributions.
Deniz Tek adds fluid and forceful guitar to four tracks (listen for the scuzzy
backing on "Decade of Days", slide and acoustic on the sweeping
instro "Bondi Tombstones" and a memorable solo on the superb Colter
Langan piece "Too Far Gone"). Bobby Sutcliff adds his guitar and
vocals to the assured rocker "City Morning" with its beach Boys
outro. Megan Pickerel's voice leavens "The Boy Who Cried New Town"
and longtime Brain member Richard Treece sprinkles guitar over the out-there
"Penny For Your Thoughts" with a degree of magnificence.
The star, for me, is the aforementioned "So Far Gone", a swelling
Colter Langan tune that would be all over the airwaves in a fair and just
world.
Oh, and that bonus DVD...in a world where we want more for our heard-earned
(and we want it now), this is superb value. The stark, black-and-white splendour
of the Brain's "Control" sits well alongside a trio of stylish and
engaging clips from labelmate Penny Ikinger's stunning "Electra"
album. This is a visual entree to one of the best sounding discs on the
Career label, and Penny's videos round make for a neat pairing as the
Brain backed Ms Ikinger on her 2004 US tour.
It's the rockers on "A Defeat of Echoes" that (naturally) grabbed
my attention - but it's the more meandering and/or atmospheric songs that
keep me going back to soak up more.-
The Barman
THE
GREAT LEAP FORWARD - Donovan's Brain (Career
Records)
Donovan's
Brain didn't need to leap anywhere on this, their fourth long player. The
last album, "Tiny Crustacean Light Show", arguably crystalised all that went
before and still makes regular appearances on the I-94 Bar sound system. "The
Great Leap..." now finds itself on high rotation for much the same reasons,
but is fast cementing itself as an even stronger, more consistent effort.
I'm catching up on my psych but if there's a better band doing it like this,
I look forward to hearing 'em. You can call psych music "retro" till the cows
come home, but that would be a disservice. The fact is that the best psych
doesn't consciously set out to make it 1967 again. Donovan's Brain uses bits
and pieces from the back pages (Pink Floyd and Man are obvious reference points)
to go somewhere fresh.
There's a timeless
quality in the groove on "The Great Leap Forward" and it goes beyond the band's
ability to create soundscapes. The Brain does that well - but it also rocks.
You'd probably think that was a given, with the addition of Radio Birdman's
D. Tek to the line-up for this album. But I've been re-playing their back
catalogue and the simple truth is that this band always did rock. (God know
what else I thought they could have been doing on a track like "Tell Me" off
"Eclipse and Debris" ).
Anyway, it's probably an idea to leave your preconceptions at the door when
you listen to "The Great Leap..." The first (obvious) impression is that each
and every member of the Brain is an accompished player. The backline of Ron
Craighead (drums and vocals) and Jeff Arntsen (bass and vocals) provide a
strong but nimble basis for Colter Langan (guitar and vocals) and Ron Sanchez
(guitar, vocals and keyboards) to run off each other and play foils to other
guitarists and instrumentalists. Additional players like Deniz Tek (who contributes
guitar to "All Fall Down" and "The Known Sea", as well as lead vocals to "The
Ballad of Where's Jim?") and Dave Walker (guitar and vocals on the epic "Ocean
of Storms") complete the core of the band, while guests bob up in various
places.
"Crystal Palace" is appropriated from Arntsen's band Racket Ship and guest Megan Pickerel's dual-tracked vocals and the nagging guitar accompaniment create a dark, otherworldly feel that's one of the highlights of the album. "All Fall Down" has both a swelling grandeur and quanit pop ring. (Echoes of the Flamin' Groovies, it's said, and who's to argue?) Colter Langan's "Cloud Maker" has a great vocal as well as some gorgeous guitar (the latter from Brain collaborator Richard Treece, who plays on five cuts) and brings to mind a glaringly obvious comparison to a '60s song that I can't name (my flashback's not working properly right now.)
Sanchez himself puts in strong vocals on four cuts ("Loving Indifference", "The Known Sea" and "Human Is", as well as the edgy "My Little Town", where veteran Dave Walker, ex-Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown and Idle Race, weighs in). Ron's production work has rendered something worth bottling too. Every instrument has room to breathe (no mean feat with a band where so much sound is layered), and the bass and guitar textures are a treat. I'm betting a fair proportion of this album was recorded live too because it feels just right.
Fave pop moment: Colter Langen's "Following Orders". It's light in touch compared to some of the cuts book-ending it and sits perfectly. Fave guitar moments: Treece's aforementioned "Cloudmaker" lead and the Sanchez guitar work on "The Known Sea". Heaviest moment: The Walker-and-Sanchez-penned redempotion-and-death closer, "Ocean of Storms".
You do just about
need a road map to work out who plays on what but this album sounds anything
but patchwork. There's a consistency and strength running through the songs,
which themselves demand a lot from the listener. Only two tracks ("Loving
Indifference" and "Ocean of Storms") run for more than six minutes and there's
more than enough in the compact, taught arrangements to keep you going back.
- The Barman
1/3
TINY
CRUSTACEAN LIGHT SHOW – Donovan’s Brain (Get
Hip)
Ron Sanchez makes records "like soundtracks for dreams" (as someone
once wrote less accurately about Frank Zappa). From his home in Bozeman, Montana,
the expat San Franciscan masterminds the psychedelic collective called Donovan’s
Brain, whose members hail from as far away as Seattle, Austin, Boise, and
even London (in the form of three ex-members of the ‘70s Brit jam band
Help Yourself). Although they’re recorded over extended periods, utilizing
material from the four or five writers develops and a revolving cast of players,
Brain projects sound surprisingly seamless (maybe ‘cos they’re mainly
recorded at Ron’s own studio in Bozeman, God’s Little Ear Acre).
Although Sanchez calls this new one "our ’73 album" ( a reminder
that for most people "the ‘60s" happened in the ‘70s –
come on now, ‘fess up, how many of you listened to "Dark Side of
the Moon" a thousand times the summer of its release?), it’s really
another in the grand tradition of ‘98’s pop-psych compendium "Carelessly
Restored Art" and last year’s more open-ended and exploratory "Eclipse
and Debris." The crucial ingredients are still plentifully present: the
layers upon layers of spacey guitars (with ex-Help Yourself axeman Richard
Treece’s fretwork a particularly noteworthy element), the vocals alternately
ethereal and impassioned (this time out, they’re mostly by another Brit,
Dave Walker, currently a Montana resident, whose pedigree includes Idle Race/Savoy
Brown/Fleetwood Mac/Black Sabbath/Mistress), often employing two singers simultaneously
but not-quite-unison in the manner of some early Floyd. The difference this
time is an increased focus on songs, rather than jams (although there are
plenty of extended instrumentals, most notably on Sanchez’ "Electric
Trains," which alternates rockin’ and mellow sections).
The title track features Joakim Ericsson from the Nomads on drums, and it’s
a pounding garage-rocker with an off-kilter sounding riff and wailing harp
courtesy of R. Treece. "House of Edward Devotion" (written by Boise
deejay/Brain mainstay Colter Langan with help from Dave Herlihy of Boston’s
O Positive, for whom Colter once roadied, and originally recorded for the
Brain’s "Butterfly Wheel" cassette) is head-swirling psych,
featuring ex-Help Yourself bassist Ken Whaley holding down the underpinnings.
Sanchez’ "Edward 4 Souls" winds its way through several tempo
changes, punctuated by bracing blasts of effects-laden slide from Treece.
Perhaps the best toon here is the aforementioned "Electric Trains,"
which chugs its way between passages of bluesy riff-rock and more Floydian
pastures, with an interval of free-form guitar noodling and choral interjections
giving way to a lyrical jam section of lysergic abandon.
Kels Koch’s "Northampton" is a ’68-style thumper with
galloping drums from Seth Lyon and lots more blazing Treece guitar. "Who’s
Little Girl" sports some Beatlesque chord changes, over-the-top vocals,
tinkling piano courtesy of yet another ex-Help Yourself, Malcolm Morley, and
dual slide guitars from Sanchez and Treece. Drummer Lyon’s "Zion
Like A Dove" is percussion, synth ‘n’ guitar experimentalismo.
Sanchez’ "Don’t Cry Princess" has the stately feel of
some later-period Floyd, with guitars alternately blues-drenched and lyrical
and agreeable collisions of synth and pianner. "Ox Blood" bears
a riff reminiscent of the one from Johnny Taylor’s "Hijackin’
Love" (familiar to all Scott Morgan fans), but actually comes from the
repertoire of Raven, a Bay Area band led by legendary Quicksilver Messenger
Service guitarist John Cipollina and including Dave Walker, who also sings
it here. Synchronicity? YOU decide!!!
Admittedly, Donovan’s Brain ain’t for everybody (if you didn’t
dig the last Deniz Tek studio album, f’rinstance, you prolly aren’t
gonna go for this stuff). Some people might be bothered by Ron’s treble-happy
mixes, which I attribute to his being a guitar player and having fried the
midranges of his ears from too many years standing in front of big amps, but
I could be wrong. But if you have an ear for adventurous, uncompromising music
(forget the psych tag for a minute), "Tiny Crustacean Light Show"
could be right up your alley. Myself, I can’t wait to hear the NEXT Brain
opus. This stuff is muy addictive!-
Ken Shimamoto
CARELESSLY
RESTORED ART - Donovan's Brain (Get Hip)
considerable
time in the CD player lately, expanding the aural boundaries and freaking out
Dr Zachary Smith, the resident Burmese cat.